


The One where Stiles learns how to knit

by idratherwrite



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-06
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-06 08:30:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3127931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idratherwrite/pseuds/idratherwrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stiles learns how to knit and plans to make everyone something for Christmas. Derek is excited because everything Stiles makes smells deeply of him. Things don't go quite as he expects them to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The One where Stiles learns how to knit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LadyDrace](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyDrace/gifts).



> I made this for the [Sterek Secret Santa](http://stereksecretsanta.tumblr.com/). This was for [ladydrace](http://ladydrace.tumblr.com/).
> 
> I wanted to make an ugly sweater Christmas fic and my brain came up with this. Hope you like!

Lydia had suggested it after several attempts at therapy and meditation had failed. She had noticed how Stiles fidgeted and how said fidgeting always led to further distractions which usually ended in dark thoughts. Turns out you don’t get possessed by a powerful dark spirit without consequences.

So, one day, she picked Stiles up and took him to the crafts store at the mall where she bought him a knitting for beginners book, some needles, a couple of magazines, and several types of yarn that caught her eye. No one was willing to get in Lydia’s way. They also hoped it would work. Scott really missed Stiles’ upbeat personality and Derek, well, Derek would love him no matter what and he treasured those precious few moments when Stiles’ smile had none of the darkness the Nogitsune left him.

It had taken a year of Stiles at college and Derek coming up with ridiculous excuses to go see him (“Honest, Stiles, I just followed the scent of a rogue alpha to your dorm”) and Stiles vehemently refusing the idea that Derek was actually attracted to him (“He said there was a rogue alpha, why would he lie?”) for them to get together. All it took was for Scott to mention that Stiles had had a date with a guy for Derek to ask him out. After moping for a couple of days.

The Sheriff wasn’t thrilled about the age difference, but seeing Stiles’ improved mood trumped any complaints he might have. The knitting helped loads, as well, and soon Stiles was commenting how everyone was getting scarfs for Christmas that year. Everyone. “Even you, Liam, stop rolling your eyes.”

And Derek rolled his eyes, too, but he was looking forward to it. The things Stiles knit were permeated with his smell, and it was the calming smell of Stiles happy and at peace. Derek loved the smell of passionate Stiles that their sheets had after a night of love making, but the smell of calm Stiles could soothe him and bring him out of the dark recesses his mind went to when Stiles was off at college.

So, yes, he was wondering which of the boxes in the trunk had his gift as they drove over to Lydia’s for Christmas dinner. Mrs. Martin had offered their house and hired a chef to prepare it. Melissa and the Sheriff complained a little but all the werewolves could smell the relief on them.

Dinner was delicious and plentiful and after they all gathered around the fireplace of Lydia’s (huge) living room where the presents waited for them under the tree, Derek couldn’t help but wonder which was for him. Which turned out to be several.

Lydia gave him a pair of pants with a note that read “Tell Stiles he can thank me later”. Scott gave him a book he had been looking for and the Sheriff gave him a fishing hat promising they’d go out fishing when the weather allowed. It was finally down to trading gifts with Stiles.

Stiles opened his gift and Derek tried not to act too cocky when it immediately made him spaz out and jump to hug him tightly. He knew the tickets to visit The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando would be well received. Finally it was his turn to receive Stiles’ gift. The rest of the pack had each received a handmade scarf of a different color and Derek was barely managing to hide his excitement.

Stiles, however, seemed to be stalling.

"Yeah, just," he said stretching towards a pile of empty wrapping paper. "Let me find your gift."

"Isn’t it that one?" Liam supplied helpfully from where he was sitting down.

"Oh, yeah," Stiles barked as if had been surprised by it. "It totally is. Thanks man."

He grabbed it, looking at it worriedly and turning back to Derek. They were both facing each other sitting on the floor since all of the couches were taken.

"Can I have it?" Derek asked when Stiles seemed to hug the box tighter to himself.

"What? Oh, yeah!" Stiles said stretching his arms and shoving the gift to Derek’s chest. "Uh. Hope you like it. Merry Christmas. Yay."

Derek raised an eyebrow questioningly at his boyfriend but decided not to comment on the strange behavior. Using a claw to deal with the tape he unwrapped an unmarked white box, like the ones Stiles had used for the rest of the scarves. He opened the box, gasping to mask how he was searching for Stiles’ smell, but the smell wasn’t there.

Instead, the box had a book on wolves, a t-shirt with a cartoony wolf print, and a gift card.

"Derek?" Stiles asked quietly.

Derek looked at Stiles, eyes wide. He had trained himself not to hide any emotions from him, specially after Stiles had said that their relationship couldn’t work if Derek’s expressions never changed from “angry”, “annoyed”, and “gloomier than winter in Greenland.” So he knew the disappointment was showing on his face. He smiled, but it felt like trying to swallow a sour lemon.

"Thanks," he said, throat dry. "It’s… great. It’s great. I love it."

Stiles smiled then, which felt like a punch to Derek because it couldn’t be that Stiles was just allowing such a blatant lie to come out of Derek’s mouth unchallenged. Did Stiles really put so little thought into Derek’s gift? He knew Scott and Lydia were Stiles’ best friend but, damn it, he was the boyfriend. The boyfriend who the Sheriff loved, his brain added sourly.

"So, how about some hot chocolate?" Stiles asked, heading to the kitchen after looking weirdly at something behind Derek. The wolf turned to see Lydia looking at Stiles with her "we need to talk" face.

"Oh, that’s cute," Scott said as he approached him and looked into the box. He was wearing the red scarf Stiles had made for him and the smell instantly invaded Derek’s nose.

"Yeah," Derek answered, forcing a smile.

"At least you get to trade gifts with Stiles now," Scott said. "I won’t get to see Kira until she gets back from Japan and it-"

"Sorry," Derek interrupted him, getting up. "Need to use the bathroom."

It had been months since Derek felt he had to sneak around Stiles to get some information, and if it was about anything else but their relationship Derek wouldn’t even think about it. However, he felt Lydia wanted to talk to Stiles about just that and if there was any problems Derek wanted to fix them as soon as possible. He walked slowly to the kitchen, focusing on the voices coming from there.

"-have to tell him." Lydia’s voice.

"I don’t want to." Stiles.

"He’ll understand."

"Lydia, no. I spent a lot of time working on it and it’s a failure of spectacular proportions and nothing’s gonna fix it. I just want to move on and forget about it."

Derek could feel his heart tightening at the words. Was Stiles talking about them? No, it couldn’t be. They had been doing well together. Hell, they were going on their first trip together and Stiles seemed ecstatic about it. Of course maybe Stiles felt that way about the destination and not the company.

He rushed back to the living room and glared at the box with his gifts. A book on wolves, as if Stiles didn’t know Derek had been reading about them from the moment he could read. A cartoony wolf t-shirt, probably a joke Derek wasn’t supposed to get. The worst joke of all was the gift card. Was there anything less personal than that?

"You ok, son?"

The Sheriff broke him out of his thoughts and looking into the man’s concerned face almost broke his heart. He felt like he had belonged with them the days they had spent watching baseball and eating pizza at the Stilinski house.

"Yeah," he said unconvincingly as he reached down to pick up the box. The Sheriff looked at it and frowned. Perfect, even his boyfriend’s father could see Stiles didn’t care about Derek.

"Could you tell Stiles I had to go home?" Derek said. He had to get out of there before his gloomy mood turned to anger and he lashed out at the wrong person. "I’m tired."

"I thought Stiles was going to your place tonight," the Sheriff asked, surprised.

Derek shrugged and smiled before heading out. He knew leaving without saying goodbye would cause a fuss but at least maybe like this Stiles would have the guts to talk to him instead of waiting until after using him to get a free trip before dumping him.

He hadn’t been home for more than twenty minutes when he heard Stiles’ running up the stairs and unlock the door. He was in the living room, staring at nothing and trying to think what he would say if this situation happened. Unfortunately, he hadn’t thought of a good thing to say yet.

Stiles practically ran in and froze at seeing his boyfriend. He was red from having run up the stairs and breathing heavily. Derek hated himself for finding it so sexy at that particular moment.

"You left," Stiles said.

Derek nodded, turning to glare at the window instead of Stiles.

"You hated my gift," Stiles whined.

"This isn’t about the fucking gift Stiles," Derek almost yelled, standing up.

"I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you but-"

"But you didn’t want to get rid of me until you were done with me," Derek interrupted him, hating how his voice broke at the end of the sentence. "I thought you- I thought I- I thought we were doing so well."

"What?" Stiles looked at him dumbfounded. "Derek, what are you talking about?"

Derek took a deep breath and sank back down to the couch. “I heard you and Lydia… I know I promised I wouldn’t spy on you anymore. I just worried…”

"Oh, God, Derek," Stiles said hiding his face in his hands. "Look, you got it all wrong."

"You said you wanted to move on and forget about it," Derek said through gritted teeth.

Stiles huffed loudly, half angry and half amused. “You’re the dumbest sourwolf ever if you think I don’t love you as much as you love me, you asshole.”

Derek turned to look at Stiles, seeing a hard glare there. “Seriously? After all we’ve been through together?”

Derek’s tone matched Stiles’ angry one. “And after all we’ve been through together you throw in some random crap and call it a thoughtful gift? Seriously, Stiles, I didn’t need anything, I told you as much, but seeing how little you care about us in a little box stung.”

"That wasn’t your actual gift," Stiles yelled. "I… Well, it is your actual gift, but that’s because your actual gift got lost."

Derek leaned back on the couch, fully embracing his foul mood. “Heard that lie, loud and clear.”

"Fine! Not lost, it… Oh, God, fine, just wait here."

With that Stiles walked over to the small couch by the window where he usually sat and knit while Derek read or worked. He pushed over several balls of yarn until he uncovered a larger box and walked over to Derek, standing in front of him.

"Everyone said I should just show it to you but I was afraid you’d dump me the moment you opened it," Stiles muttered, opening the box and showing its contents to Derek.

At first, Derek wasn’t sure what he was looking at. Then he recognized the sort of sweaterish shape. The torso was half bright blue and half deep red, but the knitting was uneven at best and it didn’t seem like the sides would hold. The sleeves were yellow and just as uneven as the rest. It was one of the most hideous things had ever seen.

But the smell. The smell was intoxicating. He could tell the hours and hours of effort that had gone into it thanks to it. He reached into the box and picked it up, resisting the urge to sink his face in it.

"It’s my first try," Stiles said apologetically. "I’m sorry, Derek, I really wanted to make something special for you and-"

"It’s perfect," Derek said, voice firm. "Perfect."

He pulled Stiles in, the younger man squawking as he lost his balance and fell on Derek. The wolf kissed him thoroughly. Stiles let himself be the receiver of Derek’s attention without any complains. It wasn’t until later, when they were both sweaty and naked and in Derek’s bed that he managed to arrange his thoughts again.

"Man, if a horrible sweater did that I can’t wait to make an actual wearable garment," he joked.

Derek chuckled. “As long as it smells like you, you could make me a pink hat with cat ears.”

Stiles perked up at that.

"I was joking," Derek groaned. "Do not knit me a pink hat with cat ears."

Stiles didn’t. It was a black wolf hat with ears and blue buttons for eyes. Derek couldn’t even pretend to be annoyed at it.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! :) 
> 
> I'm on tumblr as [ashleighblogs](http://ashleighblogs.tumblr.com/), come say hi.


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